


Living Trees

by uhnonnymouse



Series: of Man and Myth [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst, Banter, Gen, In a sense, Nightmares, Roman is a tree, Teenage Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Teenage Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, and Remy is there...again, basically Virgil is lost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:41:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24602548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uhnonnymouse/pseuds/uhnonnymouse
Summary: The forest was alive. Virgil felt it beneath his feet. In the moist air. The way the branches above him swayed. He lived his entire life in this forest, it was all he had ever known. Imagining anything existing outside of towering trees and dense shrubbery was impossible.Turn back,the forest told him.-Or, in Virgil's attempts to traverse the forest alone, he attracts all sorts of unwanted company.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders
Series: of Man and Myth [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777087
Comments: 8
Kudos: 128





	Living Trees

**Author's Note:**

> The immediate follow-up to [**Storm Child**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24585367)

The forest was alive.

Virgil felt it beneath his feet. In the moist air. The way the branches above him swayed.

How had he never noticed it before? He lived his entire life in this forest, it was all he had ever known. Imagining anything existing outside of towering trees and dense shrubbery was impossible. 

_Turn back,_ the forest told him.

“Shut up.” He responded.

Impossible to navigate, it twisted and turned around him, leading him in circles. He started marking trees with his hunting knife to keep track of the places he’d gone. Whenever he saw a marked tree, he turned and walked the other way. 

_This place is not for you,_ the forest warned him.

He did not respond.

He found trees he hadn’t remembered marking. He found trees he swore he just had.

_Pestilent child,_ the forest taunted him.

*

Virgil’s calves burned. He breathed in gulps, stealing the air rushing past his face.

He ran. He ran, and ran, and ran.

Hot labored breaths haunted him, brushing against the back of his neck. Furious beasts of teeth and fur and scales would tear him apart if he rest for even a moment.

He whimpered as he felt claws graze his back.

*

Virgil was beginning to notice a pattern.

The days were filled with whispering voices, ones that got dangerously close to sounding familiar. He never felt hungry or fatigued when the sun was in the sky. He did most of his walking then.

The nights was when the beasts stalked. Virgil has only seen glimpses of them, their bright yellow eyes and sharp fangs. It’s at this time his entire body aches, dragging him down, eyes threatening to close. But he knew that if he paused for even a moment, he’d be dead.

He got slower and slower every night.

*

It was day when Virgil came across the stream.

It was a small river, not unlike the one near Janus’ cabin. But instead of the water being clear, able to see the rocks and plants underneath, the water rushed by so fast he couldn’t see a thing.

Virgil cried.

“Finally,” he gasped, following the river downstream.

*

“WHY?” He yelled at the rushing water, banging his fists against the ground. The same ground he’d past by dozens, thousands of times. Sitting next to the same large stone he’d seen dozens, thousands of times. Crushing the bed of lily’s he’d stepped on dozens, thousands of times.

“PLEASE!" He sobbed "Please…”

*

_Give up,_ the forest whispered. It was night. It wasn’t supposed to speak now.

_You’re tired, and I’m hungry._

Gods, he was tired. 

Virgil unsheathed his hunting knife. It was the only thing he thought to grab before he left. The only thing he had left to remember Janus by.

If he was going to die out here, he’d was going to die fighting.

Steadying himself, he turned sharply to face the beasts…

but was met with nothing but trees.

“What?” He asked. “WHAT?” He screamed. “ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! If you’re gonna kill me, just do it already!”

Movement, in his periphery. He turned to follow it.

“Who are you!?” Virgil yelled into the night, watching the shadows cast by the light of the moon. “What do you want from me?”

“Jeez, kid, take a chill pill.” Virgil heard behind him. He turned on his heal, hunting knife out and ready to strike.

“Yikes! Pocket the blade, hun!” The person before him raised their arms above their head in a gesture of surrender. No beast in sight. “Crazy must run in the family, huh?”

Virgil stepped closer, knife still gripped tightly. He had no idea what he was doing. He had never attacked anything in his life. Janus never brought him hunting. This knife had only ever been used to strip deer meat.

This stranger didn’t need to know that, though.

“Who are you?” Virgil asked again, jabbing the knife forward for emphasis. “Are you what’s been chasing me? What’s your fucking deal?”

It was at that moment, it hit him. This was the first, real live person Virgil had ever seen besides Janus. And they were...remarkably plain.

Like the illustrations Virgil had seen in the few books Janus’ permitted him to read, their face was unblemished by scales. Like Virgil, they had two legs in place of where Janus’ long, winding snake tail would be. They lacked the characteristics of femininity that commonly marked a women, so Virgil for now assumed the stranger to be a man.

The only thing that even remotely stood out about him was that his eyes were covered by large, reflective goggles.

“Nah, hun, I’m a friend. Promise,” the stranger took a cautious step forward. “And I’d be in huge trouble if you ended up losing your mind to this forest.”

“Are you telling me that was all just my imagination?!”

“It’s kinda complicated, kid.”

Virgil relaxed slightly, before seizing right up again. “Did Janus send you?”

“Who?” The man asked, cocking his head. “Oh! Uh, no, not... _Janus_. In fact, I dislike that snakey stuck-up nearly as much as you, kid.”

“So, what? You can lead me out of the forest?”

The guy nodded. “Know it like the back of my hand, babes.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes. So far, this guy was sounding super sketchy.

But the other option was trying to navigating this place himself, and the idea of wondering aimlessly around and around in circles made him nauseous. And the voices seemed to have stopped as well...

“Okay.” Virgil said, lowering the blade, if only slightly. “But you try anything and I’ll fucking gut you.”

*

The stranger didn’t tell Virgil his name, and Virgil didn’t tell him his. He preferred it that way.

“How do you know so much about this place?” Virgil asked. It was proving a bit difficult to follow this man. He moved quickly, and sometimes he would lose sight of him completely, only to glance back again and there he would be, shrouded in the shadows.

The stranger didn’t respond at first, only stopping to examine the sky. Virgil had no idea what he was looking at, or even doing differently in the first place. But Virgil was pretty sure he had never seen this part of the forest before, so that was reassuring.

“The forest is...a living nightmare, of sorts.” The man turned a sharp right, then kept walking. “It’s built to keep those unwelcomed out, and those wanted trapped inside.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Virgil grumbled.

“Hun, nightmares are kinda my thing. I got a knack for these sorts of places.”

“What does that make you, then? My sleep paralysis demon? Are you even real?”

He made a little sound of exasperation. “That’s a loaded question, kid. How do you know _you’re_ even real?”

Virgil panics momentarily, before he hears the guy laughing. 

“Asshole,” Virgil mumbles.

*

Unlike before, when days and nights had definite beginnings and ends, time was sluggish and disorientating when traveling with this new companion.

Nights felt they lasted longer than they should, the days were like a distant memory, fleeting and delirious. Their was no clear transition between the two; they’d turn a corner, it’d be midday. He blinked, and again the moon shown through the trees.

“How long have we been walking?” Virgil remembers asking.

“How long have you been asleep?” The stranger responds. Or, that’s how Virgil recalled it.

*

It’s night when they come across the stream.

“Well,” the man stops, “that’s not suppose to be there.”

“It’s just a river.”

“No, no it isn’t.” The man leans down, dipping his hand into the rushing water. “Let’s keep moving, hun.”

He begins to trudge uphill, following the river to its source. Virgil is close behind.

*

The river is mesmerizing in a way Virgil hadn’t noticed before.

Despite its speedy flow, it wasn’t violent or rushed. It was tranquil. Like if he let it, it’d carry him away from all his fears and worries, bring him somewhere better…

“I wouldn’t look at it that long, hun.” The stranger advised.

“I’m not,” Virgil hissed, focusing his gaze forward.

*

When Virgil looks back at the stream, he’s surprised to see pink flower petals floating down the river. From time to time, the petals are pulled under the rushing water and disappear.

It isn’t long before they come across the source.

A tree, so starkly different from the trees that tower far above their heads, Virgil thought he was seeing things.

It sat right on the edge of the riverbed, roots winding into the water. It’s bark was a deep, beautiful red and in place of leaves were blooming pink flowers. Occasionally a petal would fall, the wind carrying it into the river.

As they got closer, it became apparent that the tree itself was the source of the stream. From under its roots water pressed out, flowing down and becoming the river.

A tear fell from Virgil’s cheek, and he realized he was crying. As he wiped the tears from his eyes, he heard the man say “ah, shit.”

And when he looked up again, the stranger, his guide, was gone.

“Hello?” He asked, turning in circle. The man was no where in sight. 

“Fuck. Fuck!” Virgil wiped more tears from his eyes. “You gotta be KIDDING me!”

And with a aggravated cry, Virgil kicked the base of the blossoming tree.

“Ow! Geez, can’t a man wallow in peace?”

Virgil froze. His first thought was that it was the stranger, but this voice was dramatically different. Emphasis on _dramatic._

“Who is it this time?!” Virgil threw his arms up in exasperation. Wasn’t meeting one weird dude in the forest enough??

“Sure sounds like you’ve had a swell day.” The voice laughed, but it sounded a bit...strained? “Who put a bee in your bonnet?” Like it had been crying…

Virgil looked up at the tree, examining it closely. Slowly, he reached out and touched the bark lightly.

“Hello?” He asked the tree softly, wiping his eyes of tears.

“Hiya,” the tree said. “I would really appreciate it if you stopped touching me.”

Virgil pulled his hand away, cradling it to his chest.

“You’re a talking tree.” Virgil said smartly.

“Way to state the obvious,” the tree snarked back.

“Aren’t trees suppose to be serene? You just sound like a prick.”

The tree gasped dramatically. “I am centuries old! I won’t have some gloomy little human speak to me that way!”

“Well, you act like a child.”

“Agh!”

Then, the ground began to shake. Virgil tripped backwards, landing hard on his butt.

He watched in horror and fascination as the tree began to twist in on itself, bark and branches contorting in and in, becoming smaller and smaller. The earth raised where roots began retracting, and the flowers closed their petals.

“Say that to my face!”

What stood before Virgil was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. Granted, he had only known, like, two people before this, but he was convinced this must be the peak. Rich dark skin, blonde hair that that bordered on pinkish, eyes that shined red and orange, full of fury and passion.

Virgil was…

He was…

Well, he was right.

The boy looked no older than Virgil himself.

Virgil, despite himself, laughed.

“What?!” The boy stomped, watching flustered as Virgil rolled in the grass laughing. “What’s so funny?!” His voice cracked, and Virgil laughed even harder.

“Gah, sorry.” Virgil giggled, sitting up and wiping more tears from his eyes. Man, what was up with that?

Actually, now that Virgil really took a long looked at him, he realized that this boy was crying, too. Like really, actually crying.

“Woah, hey, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Virgil slowly stood up, trying not to take to much joy in being an inch or so taller than the guy.

The boy started, as though he hadn’t even realized there were tears flowing down his cheeks. He pulled out a handkerchief, _a fucking handkerchief,_ and dried his eyes.

“Don’t be so vain. My sorrows have nothing to do with you.”

“Oh.” Suddenly feeling real awkward, Virgil elected to watch the river slowly drying up. What was he suppose to do? Comfort the guy? Ask him what was wrong? He had no idea who he was…

“Well.” The boy dusted his fancy tunic. He was dressed very ornately, reminding Virgil of how princes would dress in fairytales. “Tell me your name, human, so I may report you to the authorities.”

“What?! Why?”

“For disrespecting a god, of course! Some places hang a man for such a thing.”

“And what are you the god of, huh? Creepy sad trees? Obnoxiousness?”

_“I,”_ he says with a strained smile that Virgil imagined would be charming if he wasn’t so on edge. “Am Creativity, god of dreams and love, ruler of all things brave and passionate. I am who you ask to bless your weapon before a great fight; I am who you pray to the night before you confess your admiration to your greatest love; I am who artists beg to for inspiration!”

As Virgil listened to all this, the thing that struck him most was that he _believed_ what he was being told. This boy really was a god.

Didn’t mean he was up to being killed over that fact.

“That’s nice, man.” Virgil patted the young god on the shoulder as he walked around him, pressing forward. “Glad that’s all working out for you. If you really need someone to boost your already inflated ego, go find one of those artists or whatever, cuz I don’t have time for this.”

Sputtering, than a “wait up!” as the Prince of Pricks ran after him.

“What are you doing all the way out here, anyways? This place is very dangerous for a mortal such as yourself.”

“Aw, you afraid I might get hurt?”

“Hah! Of course not.” But Creativity was avoiding eye contact. He’d be cute if he didn’t talk so much, Virgil thought. “Why would I care for a little mortal? I don’t!”

Virgil shrugged, “I’m lost, to answer your question.”

“Oh.” Princey said smartly. “Oh! Weeeell, I could help you out. We’re close to the edge.”  
  
Virgil raised his eyebrows, not believing his ears. “Really?”

“Of course! I’m a hero, after all.” The young god gave him a side eye and a wicked smile. “But only if you apologize first.”

“Hah!”

…

“Oh, wait, your serious. Dude, no way!”

“Yes way! You disrespected me, and I deserve an apology!”

“Agh!” Virgil growled, kicking the dirt in frustrated. But dammit, if he really, _really_ did want to get out of this damned forest. “Fine, alright, I’m sorry. There, you happy?”

“Very.”

*

“So, why are _you_ all the way out here?” Virgil asked. They’d been walking side by side in relative silence for the past hour. Luckily, no weird time fuckery was happening, so it was still daylight.

“Sometimes I come out here to think.”

“Too much going on in that big head of yours?”

“Something like that.”

Virgil tried not to feel bad. Whatever Creativity had been doing out here, it wasn’t thinking. Or thinking about anything good.

Virgil sighed. “I’m sorry.” He meant it this time, and he hoped Creativity could tell. “For disturbing your, uh…”

“My mourning.” Princey filled in.

“Oh.”

Their footsteps are soft against the forest floor. Above them, birds chirp.

“He’s not actually dead.” Creativity says, “my dad. He’s not actually dead, but they think he will be soon.”

Virgil, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to _think,_ just nods.

“They won’t tell me why, though.” The young god's fists clench. “One day he’s fine, and the next he’s to ill to speak! And they won’t tell me why! It’s like they don’t trust me to know…”

“I get it.” Virgil croaks weakly, watching the ground beneath him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

*

“I lied.” Virgil said, after an unknown stretch of silence, both of them deep in thought.

“What?”

“Well, sort off. I am actually lost.” Princey hopped up a steep rock, offering his hand to help Virgil over. He begrudgingly took it. “But I actually uh...grew up in the forest. I’ve never, um, been outside of it.”

Creativity looked at him intensely, so much so it made Virgil squirm. “Never?”

Virgil nodded meekly.

“Woah.” He leaned toward Virgil, as if getting a closer would reveal if he was telling the truth or not. “So you’ve never been to the Fountains of Sagacity? Never eaten at the _Bálla al Cad?_ ”

“The what? The where?”

“Oh my gods. Oh my _me!_ ” Princey was practically crying, looking both enraged and excited at the same time. “I can’t believe it! How have you even lived as long as you have?! What terrible dragon-witch hid you away from the world?!”

“More like snake-witch…”

“What was that?”

“Nevermind.”

The Prince of Fools continued to list off places, each of which Virgil had never heard of, and somehow continued to be more and more surprised.

“Well, it’s decided than!” Princey turned to face Virgil, and not expecting it, nearly ran into him.

“I will show you the world!”

“What?”

“It’s only appropriate. Someone as dreary and dismal as you needs someone as gleaming and glamorous as me to highlight all that this beautiful world has to offer!”

Virgil felt heat rising to his cheeks. He honestly didn’t know what to say. What had he been planning to do anyways, once he got out of this forest? He knew nothing about the world, that much was made clear. He wouldn’t get one step without someone to guide him.

“Alright.” Virgil swallowed, pushing down all his thoughts so he could give Princey a cocky smile. “Lead the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> this series was originally gonna have a prinxiety arc, but after much deliberation i decided to drop it. there is def gonna be romantic elements to their relationship, but ultimately it will turn out platonic. sooooo ye


End file.
